Was offered the Vice-Presidency under Vinick if he won the general election but declined because of their different stance on abortion (Vinick was in favor of women's right to choose concerning abortion, whereas, Butler was against that right)

Biography: Born in 1895, in Carson City, Nevada. Served as a fighter pilot in WWI and was decorated by France, Britain, and the US. After the war, Matthews married his wife Mary and had two children (Grant "Butch" Jr. & Joyce). Matthews started his own airplane business which soon became one of the biggest in the country. He was convinced to run by Kay Thorndyke, a newspaper magnate with whom he was having an affair. Although he gained much support running on a centrist platform, Matthews decided to withdraw from the primaries after he saw that his political handlers were trading principal for votes.

At the end of the movie, Travis Bickle tells Betsy, "I heard Palantine got the nomination", but as the movie ends, the general election has not yet occurred, so we do not know if he was actually elected President.

David Palmer was a Senator running for president in the California Presidential Primary in the first season. That season's storyline revolved around a plot to assassinate him. He also ran for re-election in the third season, but dropped out of the race by the end of that season.

Announced candidacy in the 1988 election at the end of the fictional story, leading a newspaper editor to proclaim, "This is still America God damnit! Who wants a cowboy actor in the White House?", a thinly-veiled jab at then president Ronald Reagan (In the 2009 movie adaptation the editor uses the phrase to describe Reagan himself as it was his announcement of a Presidential run)

Ritchie attended the University of Florida and is married to Janet Ritchie. Ritchie was the Governor of Florida when he ran against incumbent president Josiah Bartlet in the 2002 presidential election. Ritchie supported oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve in Alaska and opposed affirmative action.

President Bartlet called Governor Ritchie a ".22 caliber mind in a .357 world." In the general election, President Bartlet defeated Governor Ritchie and running mate Jeff Heston by 11 million popular votes in a landslide.

Says nothing about issues, only spews insults about widowed President Sheperd and his girlfriend Sydney Ellen Wade.

Falsely accuses Wade of trading sexual favors for votes while lobbying in the Virginia State Legislature(clearly a lie since he refuses to name his 'several' sources).

Ends every speech with "My name is Bob Rumson, and I'm running for President!". Those words are later rammed down his throat when the incumbent ends a speech(disgracing Rumson's politics) by declaring, "My name's Andrew Sheperd and I AM THE PRESIDENT!"

Opposed Flag-burning and co-sponsored any bill that came up in congress banning it.

Russell was the Vice President under President Josiah Bartlet, however, he was not elected to that office, he was nominated under 25th amendment after previous VP John Hoynes resigned because of a sex scandal. Bartlet was forced to choose him by a Republican Congress, he initially wanted his secretary of state to be VP.

Before becoming VP, he was a five-term congressman from Colorado.

Became the front-runner for Democratic nomination for president after the expected front-runner, Governor Eric Baker of Pennsylvania announced he was not running.

Russell was very confident that he would win the nomination and the presidency. However, his opponents believed that if he won the nomination then the Republican nominee, Arnold Vinick, would win all fifty states in the electoral college.

White House Chief of Staff, CJ Cregg, openly said that the reason that the Republicans made Bartlet choose Russell as VP was because he would almost definitely win the Democratic nomination but did not have a chance in the General election.

Lost the Democratic nomination for president to Texas Congressman Matt Santos.

Stackhouse is a widowed 78-year-old five-term Senator from Minnesota who admired Hubert Humphrey. Stackhouse attempted to run for president in the 2002 presidential election as an independent candidate. He ended his candidacy and later endorsed President Bartlet.

Candidate in: Politics is Life, and Life is Politics (ongoing online journal)

Played by: himself

Ted was an overweight, smelly software developer who fancied himself an unparalleled orator and debater who could persuade anyone of anything, going so far as to try to convince people that a knuckleball travels faster than a fastball. In reality, Ted changed people's minds about as often as he changed his underwear. Not often.

Political Party: Republican, although professed a fondness for President Harry Truman, a Democrat who, like him, came from the western part of the State of Missouri.

Walken was Speaker of the United States House of Representatives when Vice President John Hoynes resigned, making him next in the line of succession. Before President Bartlet could appoint a new Vice President, a family crisis forced him to temporarily step aside under the 25th Amendment, making Walken Acting President for three days. In order to accept this position, Walken had to resign his seat in Congress. As he left the Presidency, he told Bartlet that he had not decided whether to run for his old seat.

Walken was a proponent of tax cuts and a strong military, and Bartlet's comments indicated he was a strong supporter of gun rights as well.

Joined Bartlet and former President D. Wire Newman at the funeral of former President Owen Lassiter, who was apparently a friend and something of a role model.

Goodman appeared as Walken in a total of three episodes, and while his character was mentioned as a candidate in the Republican primaries, he was never shown.

During his three-day Presidency, Bartlet's staff believed that this tenure, however brief, would make Walken the front-runner for the Republican nomination in the next election. However, later episodes revealed that he lost the early primaries to Arnold Vinick.

United States Senator who split from his party and formed his own. Wright was secretly in league with the Red Skull. After the new Captain America stopped the Red Skull's plan to assassinate the Democrat and Republican Presidential candidates Wright was forced to resign from the Senate and drop out of the race.